


keep you on my skin

by Nakimochiku



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, F/M, One-sided Annie/Armin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 17:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4487787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nakimochiku/pseuds/Nakimochiku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Leonhardt. I want a tattoo. From you specifically."</p>
            </blockquote>





	keep you on my skin

It seems to Annie that there isn't a patch of skin on Levi that isn't inked. He turns, and the black silhouettes of birds trailing from behind his ear down the column of his throat ripple. Sometimes, when Annie’s day dreams dip into R rated, she thinks of kissing each black bird, tasting salt and ink --

She clucks her tongue at herself and thinks it mildly inappropriate to harbour R rated fantasies for her boss.

"Leonhardt." Levi drawls, leaning against the front desk, fiddling idly with the business cards so they click rhythmically. "I want a tattoo." He pauses and glances at her, one pierced brow raised like he's evaluating what he sees. "From you, specifically. I want you to pick a patch of skin and ink it."

"With what?" Annie asks incredulously, leaning back in her seat.

Levi shrugs. "Whatever you'd like, wherever you'd like." He stands to his full, maeger height and moves away, drawing passed her into the parlour proper. "My body is your canvas." He says as he passes by her. If the words make Annie shiver, that’s her own business.

*

All the bosses have had the honour of inking Levi. Erwin's birds and feathers rest stark black against his neck. Hanji's dagger and banner proclaim  _No Regrets_ on his right shoulder. There is a small, almost unnoticeable bird perched on a sprig of olive on his left wrist, and a garish pattern of black ink across his collar, but both tattoos are unclaimed by anyone at the shop.

On one hand, Annie's heart soars at the idea of putting her mark on him. On the other, she trembles with nerves at the responsibility. She wants to mark him. She wants to claim some swathe of his skin as hers alone, so that everyone will see and know. What, precisely, she wants anyone to know when they look at it, Annie can't say.

"If you were to give Levi a tattoo, what would you give him?"

Eren looks over his shoulder from where he's disinfecting a tattoo gun. "I have a whole sketchbook of designs I would give Levi." Annie flaps her hand at him to fetch it. He finishes disinfecting the gun and hangs it away, and moves over to the cupboard of a break room to dig in his bag. He produces a sketch book he has scrawled  _wishful thinking_ on in sharpie, and hands it to her.

"You know it's a little weird that you have a whole sketchbook of tattoos dedicated to Levi, right?" But Eren just shrugs, and starts pouring bleach into a bucket, mop in his loose fist.

Eren's art is beautiful, bold colours and strong lines. He's drawn pheasant and peacock feathers in a sort of bouquet, birds in flight, open birdcages.

"Why birds?"

"Hm?"

"Why is everything bird themed?"

Eren leans on his mop, mouth twisted a little in thought. "Well... He already has so many feathers and bird tattoos so--"

"But that's not why you did it." Annie interrupts before he can make excuses. The tips of Eren's ears flush and he hurriedly turns away, mopping the floor rigorously. "Come on, tell me. I already think you're weird, Jaeger. There's nothing you can say to get any weirder."

Eren sighs and pauses. He rolls his  words carefully on his tongue, as though tasting them. "I picked birds because they're free. And Levi makes me think of freedom." He starts mopping again.

Annie hums and continues flipping through the sketch book. Freedom is not what she thinks of when she looks at Levi. She thinks of something vicious, sharp and cruel like the cold edge of a knife to the throat, like gleaming fangs ready to snap shut and break skin.

"Wait don't look at that one!" Eren snatches the sketchbook out of her hand before Annie can catch a good look of the tattoo design. It was the only one that had been carefully, meticulously colored in shades of purple and pink like lacy watercolour.

"What was that?" Eren shakes his head. "Don’t be a baby Jaeger, it's not like I'm gonna tease you. Show me.” He deliberates, shifting foot to foot.

"Not a peep of laughter, or I'm telling Armin you have a crush on him." He hisses, and shoves the  sketchbook back under her nose.

He has drawn a delicate bird cage standing open, filled to bursting with flowers poking through the bars, outside the cage a single bluebird perches on a bloom. "What flowers are these?"

"Jasmine. But mostly lavender. I uh--" Eren flushes and chews his inner cheek. "I may have found out from Hanji that it's his favourite." He takes the sketchbook back from her and studies the delicate lines. It is completely different from the rest of the art in his book. "I drew it on a whim, but I don't think he'd really like it."

"Why not? It’s beautiful." Annie says blandly. She doesn't want to sing Eren’s praises, but the lavender birdcage is hardly the sort of thing drawn on a whim. He put time and effort into it.

"You don’t think it’s too girly?"

"Do you honestly believe Levi gives a shit about something like that?" She drawls. Eren shakes his head. "Levi could care less if you put a dick on his face, if that's what you really wanted. He’d be happy just knowing you took time and effort to make him something, anything at all."

"I guess." Eren murmurs sullenly. "Not that it matters either way." Annie doesn't bother telling him someday, Levi will want a tattoo from him. Mostly because she can barely figure out why he wants one from her.

"Where would you put it?" She asks instead.

"At first I was thinking his thigh but..." He smiles sheepishly "Now I think it'd look best on his ribs."

*

"Picked a patch of skin yet?" Levi asks, fanning himself a little, so that his bangs shift on his forehead. A single droplet of sweat streaks from his temple. The shop is in an old building and the air conditioner rattling in the window frame does little to ease the heat. His paper fan is a garish colour, some souvenir Hanji picked up on a foray into china town, but he uses it just the same.

Annie shrugs. She's doodling mostly in the hot summer lull, tigers eyes and stripes, exotic flowers, polar bears. "Maybe."

"Well?" Levi raises one delicate eyebrow expectantly.

"I was thinking maybe... Along your spine?"

Levi barks out a sound like a laugh. "I should have expected that, you sadist." He barks out another sound. "Did you pick the most painful place you could think of?"

"Of course." Annie says cooly. She thinks privately that all the other people who tattooed him have been sadists, putting their marks on the most painful areas they can. Like they wanted him to remember the pain of their mark. Annie can understand the sentiment.

She is not a sadist. Not in the traditional sense. But she thinks Levi might be a bit of a masochist.

"And the design?" He presses. "Do I get to see it?"

"Haven't drawn it yet." Levi sighs and strides around the front desk to pull up a bar stool beside her. Even if she had drawn it, she wouldn't show it to him. "It’s a surprise."

"How unexpectedly juvenile of you." He shoots her a sidelong glance, delicate wrist working the paper fan. She can feel its negligible breeze on her chest. "That’s something I would expect Eren to say."

Annie shrugs. Levi shrugs too, and reaches over to the ugly, chicken shaped bowl full of candy, drawing out a toffee. He offers her one and peels open his own. The toffee is slightly melted to the wax paper wrapper, cracking and oozing as it comes away. Annie watches him draw the candy between his teeth with strange deliberation, enjoying the texture of it as it melts in his mouth. There used to be Jolly Ranchers in the chicken candy bowl, but Levi hated the sucking sound people made eating them. He called it obscene.

Now she thinks something about the werther’s toffee is obscene.

“Have you drawn anything new? Erwin’s gonna be reviewing your work soon.” Annie pushes her sketchbook over to him, and Levi flicks through it, popping another toffee in his mouth. He does not hum, he does not comment, his expression does not change. Annie feels the way she had when she first started, wishing he would say anything at all so she would have something to react to. But he flips it back to the page she was working on and slides it back over to her.

“Worthy of your skin?” Annie grumps drily, erasing an errant line.

Levi snorts, chews another toffee. “Wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think so.”

*

"Afternoon, Annie." Armin chirps politely over the jingle of the bell above the door as he steps in iff the sunlit street. He brushes blonde bangs back off his forehead and smiles.

"Hey." Annie returns casually. She looks around, and, seeing no one in the immediate vicinity, offers a small smile. "Eren’s not in today--"

"I know." He smiles. "I just came from lunch with him. I’m here to see you."

"Oh." Annie flounders for a second, and remembers the piercing appointment penciled in Eren’s god awful scrawl. "Oh, I forgot. Let me get a room ready."

Armin chuckles gently and settles on one of the plastic chairs set around the lobby. "Take your time. I'm all yours today." The sun shines in through the window, the backlight turning the halo of his blonde hair gold. Annie turns away hurriedly to set up a room.

Contrary to popular belief, Annie knows that her strange crush on Armin, caught somewhere between wanting to protect him by keeping him in a little box, and wanting him to truly admire her, can be seen from space. Everyone knows, even Armin knows. But it’s comfortable that way, since she doesn't plan on pursuing him.

"Ready for you." Annie calls, and snaps on a pair of plastic gloves. She grabs a new needle and Armin hands her his new piercing, before dropping his pants. Silver glints along the length of his penis. Armin looks sweet as sugar and unassuming. But, Annie supposes, that’s probably why he gets off on his freaky piercings; he likes defying people's expectations. "How are the others? Are the nipple ones bothering you?"

Armin lifts his shirt to show her his nipple piercings, skin slightly puckered around the metal. "Nope. It’s good. I clean them every night."

Annie hums and swabs a bit of rubbing alcohol over the spot Armin wants his new piercing, right at the bony junction of his hip.

"I was thinking about getting a tattoo."

"Oh? Do you know what you'd want?"

"A unicorn, with its horn dripping blood. On my shoulder."

Annie blinks at his prompt answer, and wonders how long he's been considering it. "Any specific reason?"

Armin shrugs. "I like the idea of something innocent and pure with a violent side." Like Armin himself, Annie muses. "Like your roses." He reaches down just enough to let his fingertips brush her right shoulder before he draws his hand away. Her skin tingles. "Beautiful things have thorns."

Annie nods vacantly and swiftly finishes the piercing, swabbing it again. "Done." She says, peeling off her plastic gloves.

"Will you be the one to do it?" Armin asks, standing and righting his clothes. Annie makes a curious noise. "The tattoo I mean." He pauses, brows furrowed. "Let me rephrase that. I want you to be the one who inks me."

Annie opens her mouth. She thinks of asking why he doesn't want Eren to do it, or something equally stupid, so she closes her mouth and nods. "I've done all your piercings. Might as well do your tattoos too."

Armin grins at her.  "Yes, might as well."

*

From the neck up, Erwin Smith looks like the average business man with his sharp cheekbones and cunning smile. Annie has never had the pleasure of seeing more of his tattoos than his sleeves when he wears a t shirt, which isn’t that frequent an occurrence. His office is above the shop, and is covered floor to ceiling in framed black ink designs. Annie has never considered it a daunting place, and she's not going to start now.

Annie knocks twice and opens when he calls, "Enter."

Annie blinks, eyes riveted to the riot of colour splashed across Erwin's bare chest, he looks like Jackson Pollock and Gustav Klimt had art sex all over his body. Upon closer inspection however, she can see familiar touches she recognizes, waving banners and a vintage style with delicate lines and surprising depth; Hanji and Levi had art sex all over his body.

"Are they that impressive?" Erwin asks with a laugh, shrugging a shirt on so just his sleeves show. Annie hums; they are impressive, but it feels strange to say as much. "I apologize for the state of undress. It was just so hot I couldn’t take it anymore."

"It’s fine." Annie dimmisses. She takes a seat at his desk and jiggles her leg up and down, looking around at the art. In a far corner she can see the same feathers and birds the decorate Levi’s neck, and the mehndi styled sleeve he did for Hanji, one of the only examples of colour on the wall.

"Have you brought your sketchbook?" Erwin asks when he sits down after fiddling with the fan. It rattles beside him, giving his voice a wavering quality. Annie hands it over. Erwin’s eyebrows raise as he flips through, muttering things like "nice concept, lovely dynamic, great use of colour." If Annie were the type to preen she would. "I think you’re ready to graduate from Apprentice to full time artist." He smiles broadly at her, closing her sketchbook and passing it back. He holds out his hand for her to shake firmly. "I’m proud of the growth you’ve made."

"Thank you." Annie says quietly, a little dumbstruck.

Erwin shrugs. "Don’t thank me. I’ve barely been around the shop; Levi was handling all of your training. He told me he thought you were ready."

“Levi did?” Annie frowns. “But he never said anything--”

Erwin shrugs. “Levi never says anything, that’s why he’s Levi.”

Annie rolls her eyes, and stands. “Thanks sir, for the good news, I’ll just--” she makes an irritated noise, noisily tucks the office chair back into the desk. Her fingers crumple the sketchbook's cover.

"Annie." Erwin calls, another laugh in his voice. He's smiling when she turns, biting a little into his lip to keep from laughing. "Don’t be mad at Levi for being Levi. He might not be free with compliments but he recognizes talent when he sees it."

"Thanks." Annie says, swallowing bitterness. She'd rather Levi said that himself, but she'll settle. She sweeps out of the office with barely a backward glance, leaving Erwin's laughter behind her.

* **  
**

Annie has always had a shaky relationship with Levi, she muses over a battered sketchbook, colouring in a swirl as black as it will go with just a pencil. While she was never as bad off as Jaeger, who needed Levi’s praise like he needed air when they started apprenticing, there was always some part of her that wanted to wow Levi, that wanted to knock him off his feet.

Despite that, despite showing him how hard she could work, how well she could draw, how smoothly she could translate art to skin, how clean her pigment was, it never worked a smile or a kind word from him. It just made her push all the harder.

Annie snorts, wrist loosely drawing another swirl, climbing haphazardly up the page like a black vine. She wonders what she wants of levi? To have her head pat, and told she's a good girl? She doesn't think she's fallen so far.

"Going well?" Hanji leers over her shoulder, eyes bright and feverish. Annie almost throws her hands over her design like a schoolgirl caught with porn, but manages to restrain herself. Hanji’s bright eyes grow brighter, devouring the design.

"This is for Levi?" Annie nods cautiously and she squeals. "I love it! He'll love it! It’s perfect!"

While Hanji gushes over the sketch, Annie keeps colouring, obscene swirls like black fire. "Can I ask you something?" Hanji hums cheerfully, and slumps onto the counter to indicate she's listening. "Why'd you pick the dagger? Why'd you put it where you did?"

Hanji hums in thought, stroking her chin. "At the time, I wanted a really strong but colourful image. All his tattoos were black, and he's actually a really colourful person. I wanted to give him a tattoo that showed that." She sighs heavily, propping her cheek on her tattooed fist. "I regret it now though."

Annie frowns. “Why? He loves it."

"Sure." Hanji allows. "But if I'd been thinking at the time, about what I wanted on him, rather than what he would enjoy, I'd have put something on his dick." Annie gapes, and Hanji laughs uproariously. Her laughter sounds like an earthquake. "Don’t worry. Even he's not that much of a pervert. He's promised me a patch of skin on his pelvis though,” she pats her hip, to indicate where she means. “I eagerly await the day I come up with something I really want there."

"You don’t have a design yet?"

Hanji shakes her head, tossing her ponytail side to side. She sighs dramatically. "I’ve been trying to come up with a design to put on him for the past five years. Nothing really strikes me as worthy though."

"You’re quite the perfectionist."

"Only because I'm allowed to be. He's satisfied with the tattoo I've already given him, so I can take as long as I'd like now." Hanji shrugs. "Think about that. You're not limited to just one tattoo."

The reminder is a comfort; but she doesn’t want to give Levi a tattoo she’s only satisfied with. She wants to give him something so perfect, she never feels like inking him again.

* **  
**

"Where'd you get the other two?" Levi grunts vaguely at her, wriggling his shoulders when she peels away the design, safely transferred to his skin. "The bluebird and the tribal tat. I know Erwin and Hanji did the other ones so--"

"Isabel gave me the collar. Petra gave me the bird." He says their names with such affection, Annie wonders if he will say her name like that, when someone asks about the swirls of black ink trailing up his spine. She wonders if he will wear the same not quite smile, and remember the pain of the needle and the weight and warmth of her gloved hand on his back and the feel of her breath against his skin.

She wonders if he'll remember that when someone has him on his belly, exploring the swirling black ink of his tattoos, tracing the lines with their tongue. She shakes away the thought and prepares the gun.

Levi’s back looks broad and strong, corded with muscle, the dips and ridges of his spine accented by the starting design. Annie's mouth waters a little bit, the only thing she can think of when she looks at him is salt and ink and werther's toffees and the smell of black tea and cigarettes. "Ready?" She asks as she turns the gun on, and it vibrates up her arm with a comforting buzz.

"Are you?" He returns.

She is not, but she doesn't say anything lest he can hear the quaver in her voice. She starts at his tailbone, hand curled around the sharp jut of his hip to steady him.

"Don’t go easy on me. You want it to hurt don't you?"

"Masochist."

She traces ink into the designs, outlines them and colours the swirls in. When his back has healed, and the redness and irritation recedes, the tattoo will mark him as some untamable thing, a tiger’s stripes to match his tiger heart. Someone will see and know he cannot be caged.

Levi’s fingers are clenched around the edges of the table, he's breathing a little harder. Annie wishes she could see his face. "Why'd you want a tattoo from me?" She asks over the buzzing of the gun.

Levi gives a jerky one shouldered shrug. He doesn't say anything else for a long time, so long in fact that Annie loses herself in the repetitive motions of outlining, coloring, and wiping. "It’s like carrying pieces of people with me all the time."

Annie's breath catches in her throat, and she has to pause a moment. Did Levi somehow guess that's what she wanted, to be on his skin, an inseparable part of him? Or is that normal? Did Hanji and Petra and Erwin feel the same when Levi told them to pick a patch of skin and ink it? Will Eren feel the same when Levi asks him? Do they all just want to create their own squares in the patchwork of Levi’s bring?

"I want you to love it." Annie nearly whispers. She almost hopes he doesn't hear her.

"I will." He answers firmly. He turns to look at her over his shoulder. His eyes are sharp and knowing, like he sees right through her.

Annie shakes her head. "I want you to love it like I love my roses, or the portrait of my dad you did." She lets her free hand settle on her shoulder, tracing lines of her father’s face that she can't feel but knows are there. "I want you love it so much you could cry."

Levi turns to her fully. His warm palm settles on the delicate curve of her neck, thumb tracing the line of her jaw. For one heart wrenching moment, she hopes he will kiss her, and she's terrified of the thought. "I will." He assures again. Then he flops back over onto his belly. "Now hurry up before I change my mind."

"You wouldn’t change your mind." She puts the needle back to his skin. This close to him her senses are filled with the mechanic smell of hot metal and cigarette smoke, cheap aftershave and toffee, fruity shampoo and fresh ink. Someday she hopes she will have Levi on his belly with her tongue to his tiger tattoos, tasting the salt of his skin.

Until then she’s satisfied to have him on his belly, with her hand on his hip, able to feel all the tension of his muscles as he stiffens under the buzz of her needle.

He will look so beautiful.

 

**Author's Note:**

> yet another extremely indulgent fic, that may some day become a series or just, you know, stay the way it is.


End file.
